Anyone own these?
What soft synths get the most use in your rig??
I here the B4 is unbelievable but only one instrument...I hear sample tank has unbelievable sounds(1500 to be exact) but are they mostly usable??

If you are primarily an organ player, I say go for the B4, it is that good. That said, ST2 with Sonic Reality Libraries is the heart of my writing (whatever that means).

I don't know how anyone could answer this question. One is a detailed emulation of an organ, the other is a sort of software workstation that covers lots of bases. Which do you need?

As far as what I use softsynth wise -- not much right now. Absynth 2 gets used rarely but when it does get used it is always just right. I'd love to get Arturia's MiniMoog, but instead I just purchased BFD and will probably get an equivalent electric bass library to go with it. Since I have a hardware workstation plus Reason products like Sampletank would only add to the confusion (which is already abundant), so I try to put my software money into a few reliably high-quality instruments that I can turn to fill specific needs.

I have to ask what are you doing right now? If you have a workstation that allows you to laydown all the tracks you need, but you are looking for a better organ, then get B4.
If you are looking to upgrade your whole workstation, then get sample tank. Bsically it depends on what you need. The are both easily worth $200, so if you can, get them both.

I've recently had the opportunity to play with ST2 on a colleague's setup. I'm impressed both with the range and quality of sounds and with the "synthy" side--the processing and programming dimensions. I haven't delved too deep. It's an awful lot of sounds and a fairly deep application, but it certainly aroused my interest. I'd rate the samle quality comparable to or better than ost modern ROMplers but not quite up to the mark of the streaming Sampler libraries with their 172-velocity layer snare drums and such.

If you're doing a lot of sequencing and arranging and need a sound refresh, ST2 is a great choice. If you want to spend hours noodling on a great organ, B4.

BTW, ST2 XL is a good bit more than $200, isn't it? And the basic B4 a good bit less?

VirSyn Tera 2 for synth sounds and Kontakt/Sonic for ROMpler sounds. I have B4 and love the sound, but it is organ only. It sounds like the choice is between a really go organ VSTi, or a decent general purpose VSTi.

If you have anything with SampleTank 1 LE then you can get SampleTank 2 XL for around $260. That makes it a pretty good buy.

Robert

I think I'm primarily looking for a sound refresh!!!!
I have triton, and 3080, and ms2000, and have made 100's of songs with them. Sometimes you just want new sounds that you know these can't do...for the most part?
I only can invest around $200-250 so I want the purchase to last. I mention B4 because people go ape shit over it and I wondered if it was so realistic that it would put all the variety of ST2 XL to shame?

Thanks again.

Have you considered an expansion ROM for the 3080? It looks like you really know those instruments so maybe something like the World or Vintage ROM would give the 3080 new life. And it is in the price range.

Robert

Dontae, it just occured to me that you might be interested in the Sonic Synth 1 group buy -- a large collection of samples for the SampleTank format that comes with SampleTank 2 LE -- something like seven CDs for $109!

Here are the details:
KvR Sonic Synth Group Buy

Time is running out! If you're interested, get your order in by end of day tomorrow and help us reacch 300, at which point we all get an extra library and some online credits toward future purchasesd. The deal remains open to the 15th, I believe.

I have 4 cards vintage and asia included.

I have free LE already and enjoy some of the sounds alot, just scared about 1500 sounds of BS in the full version. I like SS2 demo but that's not ready until October is SS1 worth $109?
thanks

SS1 is definitely worth 109, regardless of the engine. With ST2, its a beast

I will look into SS1...is there good analog and guitar/real world sounds??

I also must say I got great GREAT inspiration from Hanz Zimmer guitar CD ROM for load into triton...so real is there anything better or new in terms of acoustic guitar/synthy stuff??
tryin to stay up on what's HOT!!!

Thanks MAGPEL I joined the group buy!

aren't we supposed to get new sounds since SS2 is late?

Absynth 2

Yeah, SS2 FREE kbd mag version is finally just about ready. We'll have it up by next week. I took the time to make some extra free sounds for it as well. Some good stuff for free. I think you'll like it.

The group buy deal ends up being free if you buy the upgrade from it to Sonik Synth 2 (the upgrade is half the price of the normal box version). Plus, it has a lot of great sounds to write with.

I have B4 and it is a great organ sim plug-in. Hard to compare the two for sure. Different animals. But, at least you will have some good organs in this bundle to play with. I sampled a couple cool B3s including one that belonged to the Beach Boys. It had a white leslie 122 with JBLs in it. I sampled another one through a 147 cabinet and in SS2 there are samples of Keith Emerson's C3 and a few other cool keyboard lover's surprises.